June 12, 2017
After long and exhilarating flight, students arrived safely in Tanzania. Everyone had a chance to get to know each other and take in the scenery on our ride back to home base. Tired and excited we all sat down to a delicious meal prepared by the wonderful mama D and her team. We are all ready for an amazing two weeks together and looking forward to the many adventures to come. Check back tomorrow to see what we’re up to on our first full day in Tanzania!
June 13, 2017
Mambo!
Karibu to all! It is merely day two in Tanzania and has already been a life changing experience for myself and all of my fellow volunteers! We woke up to a delicious breakfast bright and early this morning, with everything from eggs to fresh fruit. After breakfast Mama Simba and some of the amazing support staff gave us a quick lesson in the local culture and a brief language lesson before sending us on our way with our host families! Once departing with our host families the stories begin, all of the volunteers went around the town, met their families, some even went hiking and bonded with the youth. So far being in Tanzania has been a very rewarding experience with much more to come!
Asante!
-Tabitha Shively
6/16/2017
Habari zenu! Today in Tanzania, the GLA program participated in their first day of teaching! Teaching children in the 3rd, 5th, and 6th grades, we not only helped improve their English in various areas, but improved our own Swahili. We worked on the classrooms–sanding down the walls after patching holes inside and throwing cement and fixing holes outside–to help improve the children’s education even when we are not physically there to teach! After lunch we had two different topics discussed by our guest speakers: education and history of Tanzania, and the presence of HIV/AIDS in the country. Jerome Komu, our first speaker of the day, talked to us and answered all of our (many) questions about the history of Tanzania and the education system in place. We were able to draw connections to our experiences at home and gain insight into the cultural traditions that influence Tanzania.
After, we listened to the personal testimonies of four brave women who are living with HIV, and persevering despite all the challenges they face. In discussion afterwards, it was apparent that the GLA students gleaned new perspectives on problems these women, and many others like them, face everyday. Overall, I personally felt that today was a very educational experience (for us and the kids) and am really enthusiastic for the rest of the trip!
Kwaheri!
Jacky M.
June 17, 2017
Today after another AMAZING breakfast (thanks to Mama D) we all went to the market to buy super fun elephant pants and other souvenirs, which were all wicked cool. After spending all of our money we went to the internet café which lived up to the café part (because we all got delicious milkshakes and other snacks) but it was extremely lacking in the “internet” part. We came back and had another super good meal thanks to mama D, then we went to a local artist who taught us how to batik and explore our artistic talents (or lack there of). I would like to shout out all of your children for being 48475930 times more artistic than me, but they all encouraged and helped me so I appreciate everyone. It took us multiple more hours than expected but in the end they all turned out pretty cool (and we all totally did the entire thing by ourselves without any help from the people there whatsoever). Then ANOTHER AMAZING MEAL with a little surprise at the end for our dear friend Evelyn (Evel) because it was her birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all made sure to wish her “Heri ya Kuzaliwa” during the day but Mama D made her a special cake to really make her day. Also special shoutout to Aseem for having a playlist that is “off the Heezy Fasheezy”. Hope you all aren’t missing us too much!!
-Sam (also Maggie and Taylor assisted a touch)
6/18/2017
Today started with a “late” breakfast at 7:30— there was FRENCH TOAST. After breakfast, we prepped our teaching schedule and for the lessons that we would be teaching from 9-10 at the local school. We all left for a walk to the school at 8:30. When we arrived, the kids swarmed our GLA crew: so many bright smiles, giggles, hand holding, and Swahili greetings.
Because we created our own off workbook lesson plans for today, the GLA crew was able to place a new knowledge of English to the students on a more personal level than before. The kids here WANT to learn; they are hungry for education and eager to absorb what we have to offer them in the sense of linguistic skills. After teaching, we painted classroom walls and flung concrete onto the damaged outside structures. I personally have learned that applying concrete is NO easy task. Once we reached 12:30, an end to a days worth of physical labor, we headed back to base to nourish ourselves with Mama D’s fantastic African cuisine.
After dinner, we all got into one large GLA mentor group to watch a very eyeopening Ted talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.” We then discussed what we all took from the message of the video and built off of the subject ‘misconceptions of African society.’
Overall, I would deem day five quite successful.
Another 6/18/17
Hello All!
Today marks yet another wonderful day in Tanzania and the halfway point of our trip! Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding peak in the world, and today students were given the opportunity to hike at the base of this famous mountain! We drove about an hour away from home-base and trekked through treacherous creeks, scaled switch backs and small cliffs, swam in a natural wading pool, and shared stories with a chameleon. It may sound dangerous, but you have nothing to fear, we all came back safe and sound with amazing memories and phenomenal photos of waterfalls. Many even returned with dreams, or rather a newfound determination to hike this peak at least once in their lives. Overall it was another fantastic day here in Tanzania!
-Taylor
June 19, 2017
We started off today with another amazing breakfast from Mama D before heading off to teach at Rau school. Today was our third lesson, and it was so much fun. The students love to learn and it is such a great experience to teach. After we finished teaching, we played games at recess with the kids. The students taught us songs in Swahili and games they like to play. Next, we worked on the classroom, paining a room and cementing the wall.
After a great day at the school, we headed back for a delicious lunch. Then, we headed to Seki’s local art studio where we each painted our own canvas. The paintings all looked so beautiful!
With our canvases in hand, we headed back to Homebase where we talked with Julian, a member of GLA 2014 who lives here currently and works with the orphanage we will visit tomorrow.
It was such a great day and we are looking forward to tomorrow!
6/20/17
Today started off at 7:30 with an amazing breakfast including French toast which is always delicious!! We will al definitely miss Mama D’s cooking! Today was our 4th lesson and I feel that we are all improving with our kids. Today during recess we had a very intense dance battle which was loads of fun!! After that we went back to work on painting the classroom and cementing the wall.
After that we came home to a wonderful lunch followed by a speaker that had a heavier topic to speak about, female genital mutilation. It was very upsetting in some senses however was also very eye opening and I hope to take some things I have learned back home to spread awareness.
To cheer us up after this we went to Tuleeni orphanage and Akili foundation and met with Mama Faraji and some children that reside there. I enjoyed being able to connect with some kids of the same age as I. It is fascinating to see the similarities yet the differences between our lives and how we go about certain things!
Today was such an amazing day and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds for us!!
– Daisy
Dear parents and lovers of GLA,
Today was day 10 of our adventure in Tanzania. We had quite a jam packed day. We begun with our daily morning meal known as breakfast. It was quite delicious indeed. Mama D continues to leave us in wonder with her delicious meals. By 8:25 we were all gathered together and prepared to trek to school. When we arrived we immediately entered our classrooms as we have gotten very used to our daily schedule. After teaching for an hour and planting knowledge into the minds of the unbelievably cute children of the Rau Primary School, it was finally play time. Per usual play time was filled with exciting games of duck duck goose, red light green light, and of coarse a whole lot of Futbol. The games ended at 10:30 and we all transitioned to our last day of service work 🙁 . All though we were all sad that it was our last time being able to give back through labor, we also felt quite proud of our achievement and hope that the school will benefit from our work. Post-work, we returned to the home-base only to find yet another divine meal prepared by the genius of Mama D. At 2pm we gathered to venture out to an “internet café.” However, due to overloading and technical difficulties, we were yet again let down by the promise of wifi. Nonetheless, we shook it off, kept our heads up, and carried on. After some mouth-watering snacks from the regular café, we piled back into the bus and traveled down the road to experience the wonders of the Kili Wizard Dance troupe. These mystical wizards, enlightened us with a number of traditional Tanzanian dances. We also had the pleasure of participating in dancing with them, whether we wanted to or not. Eventually the fun ended and we hiked back to home-base. Once again we were all blessed with a superb meal prepared by Mama D and the rest of the staff at home-base. As the day came to a close we met yet again for a mentor group. In today’s mentor group we discussed the heart-wrenching topic of our farewell to the kids that we will have tomorrow 🙁 . And with that our day ended and we all dispersed to rest for yet another long day of fun. And that was Day 10 of our Tanzania: Heart and Soul of Africa trip.
Thank you,
Adam Weber
6/22/17
Hello Parents!
Today was a tough day for both GLA and Rau Primary School students, as it was our last day spent at the school. We started off our morning with teaching our respective classes. Many of us wrapped up our lesson plans with games and review exercises, which engaged the students and left them with an attempt of a lighthearted feeling.
In lieu of our normal service work, we had a couple extra hours to spend with our students. Saying goodbye to them included exchanging notes, leaving signatures in notebooks, and playing games outside. Our bittersweet morning came to and end as we walked back to the home base where we were met with yet another meal thanks to Mama D.
This afternoon was a relaxed one for a change! The seamstress visited the home base, and returned with our beautiful clothes and bags had we requested them. Two hair-braiders also stopped by so that we could get our hair “did”. We were also shocked to see Agape without her usual weave, which she was having re-braided.
Tonight we were met with an incredible surprise, as well. We were led to believe that we were having an educational mentor group discussion after watching a Ted Talk , but we were all shocked when the Disney Castle opening appeared on the projector and the LION KING STARTED. Needless to say, everyone loved it and I would like to argue that the movie was just as important to our education as a ted talk would have been!
All in all, the movie was a happy end to a bittersweet day, and now we are all getting pumped for our Safari weekend!
Mambo!
Evelyn and Jordan here! Our amazing trip is sadly coming to an end. We begin the day waking up at the crack of dawn to pack and eat a delicious breakfast. we ate eggs, crepes, and drank fruit juices that filled us all up before our long day. We got in our safari cars and headed out. On our way to Ngorongoro National Park we stopped to watch the sunrise from a viewpoint off the road. It was a beautiful start to an incredible day. Before reaching the crater we drove through fog so insane it covered most of our surroundings. It was a sight to see because the fog covered most trees, leaving a distant outline of the landscape. It was truly incredible because after driving below the fog we could see the massive savannah below. We stopped at the top of a mountain on the outskirts of the crater and it was so windy that when we got out we were almost blown away. We then started our descent into the crater. The roads were steep so it was a good thing our brakes worked! The climate changed drastically as we descended, it went from windy and “cold”, as those from warm weathered states would say, to warm with a slight breeze. Our safari began with a sighting of zebras and wildebeests… which was typical because they were EVERWHERE. We popped up the top of the safari vehicle and everyone stood to look out for hidden animals in the distance. We came across three hyenas lying on the ground. Everyone thought they looked like “teddy bears” even though they were actually vicious scavengers. Our guide, Moses, then drove us over to the “Hippo Pool” where we saw hippos! There were so many of them! There were some baby ones that looked like small stepping rocks (they weren’t rocks though because rocks don’t move). Our safari then led to the sighting of three lions, two happening to be resting in the middle of the road. Everyone was beyond excited, we never thought we’d come across three lions only feet away! Don’t worry only one person was eaten ;). We then drove to a picnic spot to eat some lunch! We sat on the ground with hippos in a pond in front and zebras grazing behind us… absolutely incredible. After lunch we started the drive out of the park. On the way out we saw a black rhino with its baby, baboons, and elephants that were precariously parched on the side of a very steep hill. The drive back to home base was long and most of us slept on the way. When we neared Arusha we sadly said goodbye to Jessica, who left early. It was a sad time but she made it on her flight safe and sound. When we arrived at home base there were decorations everywhere and delicious food waiting for us! We celebrates what Mama Simba-Uweza called a “Welcome Home” dinner but we all knew was really a goodbye feast. We were then directed to where we started the trip with name games but now there was a bonfire waiting for us. We avoided saying goodbye because we didn’t want to believe time was almost up. We ended out last night with a slide show that brought back memories we will cherish forever. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later.
Tuta onana baadae
